BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Mercredi 30 mai 2007
Tertullien
Chers frères et sœurs,
Avec la catéchèse d'aujourd'hui, nous reprenons le fil des catéchèses
interrompu à l'occasion du voyage au Brésil et nous
continuons à parler des grandes personnalités de l'Eglise antique: ce
sont des maîtres de la foi également pour nous aujourd'hui et des témoins de
l'actualité éternelle de la foi chrétienne. Nous parlons aujourd'hui d'un
Africain, Tertullien, qui, entre la fin du deuxième siècle et le début du
troisième, inaugure la littérature chrétienne en langue latine. C'est avec lui
que commence une théologie dans cette langue. Son œuvre a porté des fruits
décisifs, qu'il serait impardonnable de sous-estimer. Son influence se
développe à divers niveaux: de celui du langage et de la redécouverte de
la culture classique, à celui de l'identification d'une "âme chrétienne"
commune dans le monde et de la formulation de nouvelles propositions de
coexistence humaine. Nous ne connaissons pas exactement la date de sa naissance
et de sa mort. En revanche, nous savons qu'il reçut à Carthage, vers la fin du
II siècle, de parents et d'enseignants païens, une solide formation rhétorique,
philosophique, juridique et historique. Il se convertit ensuite au
christianisme, attiré - semble-t-il - par l'exemple des martyrs chrétiens. Il
commença à publier ses écrits les plus célèbres en 197. Mais une recherche trop
individuelle de la vérité, ainsi que certains excès de son caractère - c'était
un homme rigoureux - le conduisirent graduellement à abandonner la communion
avec l'Eglise et à adhérer à la secte du montanisme. Toutefois, l'originalité
de sa pensée liée à l'efficacité incisive de son langage lui assurent une
position de relief dans la littérature chrétienne antique.
Ce sont ses écrits à caractère
apologétique qui sont les plus célèbres. Ils manifestent
deux intentions principales: celle de réfuter les très graves accusations
que les païens formulaient contre la nouvelle religion, et celle - plus active
et missionnaire - de transmettre le message de l'Evangile en dialogue avec la
culture de l'époque. Son œuvre la plus célèbre, l'Apologétique, dénonce le
comportement injuste des autorités publiques envers l'Eglise; il explique et
défend les enseignements et les mœurs des chrétiens; il détermine les
différences entre la nouvelle religion et les principaux courants
philosophiques de l'époque; il manifeste le triomphe de l'Esprit, qui oppose le
sang, la souffrance et la patience des martyrs à la violence des
persécuteurs: "Pour aussi raffinée qu'elle soit - écrit l'Africain
-, votre cruauté ne sert à rien: elle constitue même une invitation pour
notre communauté. A chaque coup de faux que vous nous portez, nous devenons
plus nombreux: le sang des chrétiens est une semence efficace! (semen
est sanguis christianorum!)" (Apologétique 50, 13). En vérité, en fin
de compte, le martyre et la souffrance sont victorieux et plus efficaces que la
cruauté et que la violence des régimes totalitaires.
Mais Tertullien, comme tout bon apologiste, ressent dans le même temps
l'exigence de communiquer de manière positive l'essence du christianisme. C'est
pourquoi il adopte la méthode spéculative pour illustrer les fondements
rationnels du dogme chrétien. Il les approfondit de manière systématique, à
commencer par la description du "Dieu des chrétiens":
"Celui que nous adorons - atteste l'Apologiste - est un Dieu unique".
Et il poursuit, en utilisant les antithèses et les paradoxes caractéristiques
de son langage: "Il est invisible, même si on le voit;
insaisissable, même s'il est présent à travers la grâce; inconcevable, même si
les sens humains peuvent le concevoir; c'est pourquoi il est vrai et
grand!" (ibid., 17, 1-2).
En outre, Tertullien accomplit un pas immense dans le développement du
dogme trinitaire; il nous a donné en latin le langage adapté pour exprimer ce
grand mystère, en introduisant les termes "une substance" et
"trois Personnes". De même, il a également beaucoup développé le
langage correct pour exprimer le mystère du Christ, Fils de Dieu et vrai Homme.
L'Africain aborde également l'Esprit Saint, en démontrant son caractère
personnel et divin: "Nous croyons que, selon sa promesse, Jésus
Christ envoya l'Esprit Saint au moyen du Père, le Paraclet, le sanctificateur
de la foi de ceux qui croient dans le Père, dans le Fils et dans l'Esprit"
(ibid., 2, 1). Dans l'œuvre de Tertullien, on lit également de nombreux textes
sur l'Eglise, que Tertullien reconnaît toujours comme "mère". Même
après son adhésion au montanisme, il n'a pas oublié que l'Eglise est la Mère de
notre foi et de notre vie chrétienne. Il s'arrête aussi sur la conduite morale
des chrétiens, sur la vie future. Ses écrits sont importants également pour
saisir des tendances présentes dans les communautés chrétiennes à propos de la
Très Sainte Vierge Marie, des sacrements de l'Eucharistie, du Mariage et de la
Réconciliation, du primat pétrinien, de la prière... En particulier, en cette
époque de persécution, où les chrétiens semblaient une minorité perdue,
l'Apologiste les exhorte à l'espérance, qui - selon ses écrits - n'est pas
simplement une vertu en elle-même, mais une modalité qui touche chaque aspect
de l'existence chrétienne. Nous avons l'espérance que l'avenir nous appartient
parce que l'avenir appartient à Dieu. Ainsi, la résurrection du Seigneur est
présentée comme le fondement de notre résurrection future, et elle représente
l'objet principal de la confiance des chrétiens: "La chair
ressuscitera - affirme catégoriquement l'Africain -: toute la chair, la
chair elle-même, et la chair tout entière. Où qu'elle se trouve, celle-ci est
en dépôt auprès de Dieu, en vertu du très fidèle médiateur entre Dieu et les
hommes Jésus Christ, qui restituera Dieu à l'homme et l'homme à Dieu" (Sur
la résurrection des morts 63, 1).
Du point de vue humain, on peut sans aucun doute parler d'un drame de
Tertullien. Au fil des années, il devint toujours plus exigeant à l'égard des
chrétiens. Il prétendait d'eux en toute circonstance, et en particulier dans
les persécutions, un comportement héroïque. Rigide dans ses positions, il
n'épargnait pas de lourdes critiques et finit inévitablement par se retrouver
isolé. Du reste, aujourd'hui encore, de nombreuses questions restent en
suspens, non seulement sur la pensée théologique et philosophique de
Tertullien, mais également sur son attitude à l'égard des institutions
politiques et de la société païenne. Cette grande personnalité morale et
intellectuelle, cet homme qui a apporté une si grande contribution à la pensée
chrétienne, me fait beaucoup réfléchir. On voit qu'à la fin, il lui manque la
simplicité, l'humilité de s'insérer dans l'Eglise, d'accepter ses faiblesses,
d'être tolérant avec les autres et avec lui-même. Lorsque l'on ne voit plus que
sa propre pensée dans sa grandeur, à la fin, c'est précisément cette grandeur
qui se perd. La caractéristique essentielle d'un grand théologien est
l'humilité de demeurer avec l'Eglise, d'accepter les faiblesses de
celle-ci ainsi que les siennes, car seul Dieu est réellement entièrement saint.
Nous avons en revanche toujours besoin du pardon.
En définitive, l'Africain demeure un témoin intéressant des premiers
temps de l'Eglise, lorsque les chrétiens étaient alors les authentiques sujets
d'une "nouvelle culture" dans la confrontation rapprochée entre
l'héritage classique et le message évangélique. C'est à lui que l'on doit la
célèbre affirmation selon laquelle notre âme "est naturaliser
chrétienne" (Apologétique 17, 6), dans laquelle Tertullien évoque
l'éternelle continuité entre les authentiques valeurs humaines et les valeurs
chrétiennes; et également cette autre réflexion, directement empruntée à l'Evangile,
selon laquelle "le chrétien ne peut pas même haïr ses propres
ennemis" (cf. Apologétique 37), dans laquelle la conséquence morale,
inéluctable, du choix de foi, propose la "non violence" comme règle
de vie: personne ne peut manquer de voir l'actualité dramatique de cet
enseignement, également à la lumière du vif débat sur les religions.
En somme, dans les écrits de l'Africain, on retrouve de nombreux thèmes
qu'aujourd'hui encore, nous sommes appelés à affronter. Ceux-ci nous appellent
à une féconde recherche intérieure, à laquelle j'exhorte tous les fidèles, afin
qu'ils sachent exprimer de manière toujours plus convaincante la Règle de la
foi, celle - pour revenir encore une fois à Tertullien - "selon laquelle
nous croyons qu'il existe un seul Dieu, et personne en dehors du Créateur du
monde: il a tiré chaque chose du néant au moyen de son Verbe, engendré
avant toute chose" (La prescription des hérétiques 13, 1).
* * *
Je salue cordialement les pèlerins de langue française, en particulier
les Frères membres du Chapitre général de l’Institut des Frères des Écoles
chrétiennes. Prenant appui sur les authentiques valeurs culturelles, je vous
invite tous à témoigner pacifiquement de la joyeuse espérance qui est vous.
© Copyright
2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Tertullien. Dire Dieu un et trois.
par Luc Fritz
Après
avoir présenté l’homme et son œuvre, nous parlerons du montanisme, mouvement
auquel Tertullien accorda sa sympathie, puis du monarchianisme qu’il combat
particulièrement dans son livre Contre Praxéas. En un second temps seront
exposés quelques éléments facilitant la compréhension de la théologie
trinitaire de Tertullien.
Tertullien
a été un polémiste brillant et redoutable. Ses écrits sont les fruits des
luttes incessantes qu’il mena pour défendre les chrétiens persécutés par les
autorités politiques, les catholiques agressés par les différents mouvements
gnostiques, les montanistes marginalisés et condamnés par ceux qu’il appellera
les psychiques (c’est-à-dire les catholiques selon lui hostiles à l’Esprit), la
Trinité refusée par les adeptes des doctrines monarchiennes, etc…
Ce cours
voudrait présenter quelques aspects de la théologie trinitaire de Tertullien.
Celle-ci a été explicitée en réaction à Praxéas, un monarchien unitarien qui,
par des manœuvres frauduleuses, avait convaincu Zéphyrin (199-217), l’évêque de
Rome, de revenir sur des lettres de communion qu’il avait données aux adeptes
d’un mouvement charismatique dirigé par Montan. Cette manigance avait provoqué
les foudres de Tertullien déjà montaniste :
« À cette époque, en effet, l’évêque de Rome reconnaissait désormais les
prophéties de Montan, Prisca et Maximilla et par suite de cette reconnaissance
accordait la paix aux églises d’Asie et de Phrygie. Mais lui, ayant fait de
faux rapports sur ces prophètes et sur leurs églises et invoquant les décisions
de ses prédécesseurs, le contraignit à révoquer les lettres de paix déjà
signées et à revenir sur son dessein de recevoir les charismes. Ainsi Praxéas
s’entremit-il à Rome pour deux besognes du diable : il chassa la prophétie
[le montanisme] et implanta l’hérésie [le subordinatianisme], il mit le
Paraclet en fuite et le Père en croix. »
La
présentation qui suit se calque d’une certaine manière sur cette réaction de
Tertullien. En un premier temps, après avoir présenté l’homme et son œuvre,
nous parlerons du montanisme, mouvement auquel il accorda sa sympathie, puis du
monarchianisme qu’il combat particulièrement dans son livre Contre Praxéas. Le
second volet du cours voudrait donner quelques éléments facilitant la
compréhension de la théologie trinitaire de Tertullien.
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
St Peter's Square
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Tertullian
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With today's Catechesis we return to the
catechetical series we interrupted due to the Journey to Brazil and continue to
speak of the ancient Church's great personalities. They are teachers of the
faith also for us today and witnesses of the perennial timeliness of the
Christian faith.
Today, we speak of an African, Tertullian, who from
the end of the second and beginning of the third century inaugurated Christian
literature in the Latin language. He started the use of theology in Latin. His
work brought decisive benefits which it would be unforgivable to underestimate.
His influence covered different areas: linguistically, from the use of language
and the recovery of classical culture, to singling out a common "Christian
soul" in the world and in the formulation of new proposals of human
coexistence.
We do not know the exact dates of his birth and
death. Instead, we know that at Carthage, toward the end of the second century,
he received a solid education in rhetoric, philosophy, history and law from his
pagan parents and tutors. He then converted to Christianity, attracted, so it
seems, by the example of the Christian martyrs.
He began to publish his most famous writings in
197. But a too individualistic search for the truth, together with his
intransigent character - he was a rigorous man - gradually led him away from
communion with the Church to belong to the Montanist sect. The originality of
his thought, however, together with an incisive efficacy of language, assured
him a high position in ancient Christian literature.
His apologetic writings are above all the most
famous. They manifest two key intentions: to refute the grave accusations that
pagans directed against the new religion; and, more proactive and missionary,
to proclaim the Gospel message in dialogue with the culture of the time.
His most famous work, Apologeticus,
denounces the unjust behaviour of political authorities toward the Church;
explains and defends the teachings and customs of Christians; spells out
differences between the new religion and the main philosophical currents of the
time; and manifests the triumph of the Spirit that counters its persecutors
with the blood, suffering and patience of the martyrs: "Refined as it
is", the African writes, "your cruelty serves no purpose. On the
contrary, for our community, it is an invitation. We multiply every time one of
us is mowed down. The blood of Christians is effective seed" (semen est
sanguis christianorum!, Apologeticus, 50: 13).
Martyrdom, suffering for the truth, is in the end
victorious and more efficient than the cruelty and violence of totalitarian
regimes.
But Tertullian, as every good apologist, at the same
time sensed the need to communicate the essence of Christianity positively.
This is why he adopted the speculative method to illustrate the rational
foundations of Christian dogma. He developed it in a systematic way, beginning
with the description of "the God of the Christians": "He whom we
adore", the Apologist wrote, "is the one, only God". And he
continued, using antitheses and paradoxes characteristic of his language:
"He is invisible, even if you see him, difficult to grasp, even if he is
present through grace; inconceivable even if the human senses can perceive him,
therefore, he is true and great!" (cf. ibid., 17: 1-2).
Furthermore, Tertullian takes an enormous step in
the development of Trinitarian dogma. He has given us an appropriate way to express
this great mystery in Latin by introducing the terms "one substance"
and "three Persons". In a similar way, he also greatly developed the
correct language to express the mystery of Christ, Son of God and true Man.
The Holy Spirit is also considered in the African's
writings, demonstrating his personal and divine character: "We believe
that, according to his promise, Jesus Christ sent, by means of his Father, the
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of all those who
believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (ibid., 2: 1).
Again, there are in Tertullian's writings numerous
texts on the Church, whom he always recognizes as "mother". Even
after his acceptance of Montanism, he did not forget that the Church is
the Mother of our faith and Christian life.
He even considers the moral conduct of Christians
and the future life. His writings are important as they also show the practical
trends in the Christian community regarding Mary Most Holy, the Sacraments of
the Eucharist, Matrimony and Reconciliation, Petrine primacy, prayer.... In a
special way, in those times of persecution when Christians seemed to be a lost
minority, the Apologist exhorted them to hope, which in his treatises is not
simply a virtue in itself, but something that involves every aspect of
Christian existence.
We have the hope that the future is ours because
the future is God's. Therefore, the Lord's Resurrection is presented as the
foundation of our future resurrection and represents the main object of the
Christian's confidence: "And so the flesh shall rise
again", the African categorically affirms, "wholly in every man, in
its own identity, in its absolute integrity. Wherever it may be, it is in safe
keeping in God's presence, through that most faithful Mediator between God and
man, Jesus Christ, who shall reconcile both God to man, and man to God" (Concerning
the Resurrection of the Flesh, 63: 1).
From the human viewpoint one can undoubtedly speak
of Tertullian's own drama. With the passing of years he became increasingly
exigent in regard to the Christians. He demanded heroic behaviour from them in
every circumstance, above all under persecution.
Rigid in his positions, he did not withhold blunt
criticism and he inevitably ended by finding himself isolated.
Besides, many questions still remain open today,
not only on Tertullian's theological and philosophical thought, but also on his
attitude in regard to political institutions and pagan society.
This great moral and intellectual personality, this man who made such a great
contribution to Christian thought, makes me think deeply. One sees that in the
end he lacked the simplicity, the humility to integrate himself with the
Church, to accept his weaknesses, to be forbearing with others and himself.
When one only sees his thought in all its
greatness, in the end, it is precisely this greatness that is lost. The
essential characteristic of a great theologian is the humility to remain with
the Church, to accept his own and others' weaknesses, because actually only God
is all holy. We, instead, always need forgiveness.
Finally, the African remains an interesting witness
of the early times of the Church, when Christians found they were the authentic
protagonists of a "new culture" in the critical confrontation between
the classical heritage and the Gospel message.
In his famous affirmation according to which our
soul "is naturally Christian" (Apologeticus 17: 6),
Tertullian evokes the perennial continuity between authentic human values and
Christian ones. Also in his other reflection borrowed directly from the Gospel,
according to which "the Christian cannot hate, not even his enemies"
(cf. Apologeticus 37), is found the unavoidable moral resolve, the
choice of faith which proposes "non-violence" as the rule of life.
Indeed, no one can escape the dramatic aptness of this teaching, also in light
of the heated debate on religions.
In summary, the treatises of this African trace
many themes that we are still called to face today. They involve us in a
fruitful interior examination to which I exhort all the faithful, so that they
may know how to express in an always more convincing manner the Rule of
faith, which - again, referring to Tertullian - "prescribes the belief
that there is only one God and that he is none other than the Creator of the
world, who produced all things out of nothing through his own Word, generated
before all things" (cf. Concerning the Prescription of Heretics,
13: 1).
To special groups
I am pleased to greet the English-speaking
pilgrims, including participants in a seminar organized by the Lay Centre
"Foyer Unitas", graduates of the Classical Lyceum of Turku and
pilgrims from the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Devizes. Upon you and
your loved ones, I invoke the grace and peace of Almighty God.
Lastly, I greet the sick, newly-weds and young
people.... Recalling Pentecost, which we just celebrated last Sunday, I
exhort you, dear young people, to constantly invoke the Holy Spirit, so
that you may be Christ's intrepid apostles among your contemporaries. May the
Consoler Spirit help you, dear sick people, to accept suffering and
sickness, offering it to God with faith for the salvation of all people, and
may he grant you, dear newly-weds, the joy to build your family on the
Gospel's solid foundation.
© Copyright
2007 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
TERTULLIAN
(QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENS TERTULLIANUS).
Ecclesiastical writer in
the second and third centuries, b. probably about 160 at Carthage, being the son of a centurion in the proconsular service. He was
evidently by profession an advocate in the law-courts, and he shows a close
acquaintance with the procedure and terms of Roman law, though it is doubtful whether he is to be identified with
a jurist Tertullian who is cited in the Pandects. He knew Greek
as well as Latin, and wrote works in Greek
which have not come down to us. A pagan until middle life,
he had shared the pagan
prejudices against Christianity,
and had indulged like others in shameful pleasures. His conversion
was not later than the year 197, and may have been earlier. He embraced the Faith
with all the ardour of his impetuous nature.
He became a priest, no doubt of the Church of Carthage.
Monceaux, followed by d'Ales, considers
that his earlier writings were composed while he was yet a layman, and if this be so, then his ordination was about 200. His extant writings
range in date from the apologetics of 197 to the attack on a bishop who is probably Pope
Callistus (after 218). It was after the year 206 that he joined the Montanist sect, and he seems to have definitively
separated from the Church about
211 (Harnack) or 213 (Monceaux). After writing more virulently against the Church than even against heathen and persecutors, he separated from the Montanists and founded a sect of his own. The remnant of the
Tertullianists was reconciled to the Church by St.
Augustine. A number of the works of Tertullian are on special points
of belief or discipline.
According to St. Jerome
he lived to extreme old age.
The year 197 saw the
publication of a short address by Tertullian, "To the Martyrs", and
of his great apologetic works, the "Ad
nationes" and the "Apologeticus". The former has been considered
a finished sketch for the latter; but it is more true to say that the second work has a
different purpose, though a great deal of the same matter
occurs in both, the same arguments being displayed in the same manner, with the
same examples and even the same phrases. The appeal
to the nations suffers from its transmission in a single codex,
in which omissions of a word or several words or whole lines are to be
deplored. Tertullian's style is difficult enough without such super added causes
of obscurity. But the text of the "Ad nationes" must have been always
rougher than that of the "Apologeticus", which is a more careful as
well as a more perfect work, and contains
more matter because of its better
arrangement; for it is just the same length
as the two books "Ad nationes".
The "Ad nationes"
has for its entire object the refutation of calumnies against Christians. In the first place they are proved to repose on unreasoning hatred only; the procedure of trial is
illogical; the offence is nothing but the
name of Christian,
which ought rather to be a title of honour; no proof is forthcoming of any crimes, only
rumour; the first persecutor was Nero, the worst of emperors. Secondly,
the individual charges are met; Tertullian
challenges the reader to believe in anything so contrary to nature
as the accusations of infanticide and incest.
Christians are not the causes
of earthquakes and floods and famine, for these happened long before Christianity. The pagans despise
their own gods, banish them, forbid their worship,
mock them on the stage; the poets tell horrid
stories of them; they were in reality only men,
and bad men. You say we worship
an ass's head, he goes on, but you worship
all kinds of animals; your gods are images
made on a cross framework, so you worship
crosses. You say we worship
the sun; so do you. A certain Jew hawked
about a caricature of a creature half ass,
half goat, as our god; but you actually adore
half-animals. As for infanticide, you expose your own children and kill
the unborn. Your promiscuous lust causes
you to be in danger of the incest of which
you accuse us. We do not swear by the genius of Caesar,
but we are loyal, for we pray for him, whereas you revolt. Caesar
does not want to be a god; he prefers to be
alive. You say it is through obstinacy that we despise
death; but of old such contempt of death
was esteemed heroic virtue.
Many among you brave death
for gain or wagers; but we, because we believe in judgment.
Finally, do us justice;
examine our case, and change your minds. The second book consists entirely
in an attack on the gods of the pagans; they are marshalled in classes
after Varro. It was not, urges the apologist, owing to these multitudinous gods
that the empire grew.
Out of this fierce appeal
and indictment was developed the grander "Apologeticus", addressed to
the rulers of the empire and the administrators
of justice. The
former work attacked popular prejudices; the new one is an imitation of the Greek
Apologies, and was intended as an attempt
to secure an amelioration in the treatment of Christians by alteration of the law or its administration. Tertullian
cannot restrain his invective; yet he wishes to be conciliating, and it breaks
out in spite of his argument, instead of being its essence
as before. He begins again by an appeal to reason.
There are no witnesses, he urges, to prove
our crimes; Trajan
ordered Pliny not to seek us out, but yet to punish us if we were known;
— what a paralogism! The actual procedure is yet more strange. Instead of being
tortured until was confess, we are tortured
until we deny. So far the "Ad Nationes" is merely developed and
strengthened. Then, after a condensed summary of the second book as to the heathen gods, Tertullian begins in chapter
xvii an exposition of the belief of Christians in one God, the Creator,
invisible, infinite, to
whom the soul of man,
which by nature is inclined to Christianity, bears witness.
The floods and the fires have been His messengers. We have a testimony, he
adds, from our sacred books, which are
older than all your gods. Fulfilled prophecy
is the proof that
they are divine. It is then explained that Christ
is God, the Word of God born of a virgin;
His two comings, His miracles, passion,
resurrection, and forty days with the disciples,
are recounted. The disciples spread His doctrine throughout the world; Nero sowed it with blood at Rome. When tortured the Christian cries, "We worship
God through Christ".
The demons confess
Him and they stir men up against us. Next,
loyalty to Cæsar is discussed at greater length than before. When the populace rises,
how easily the Christians
could take vengeance: "We are but of yesterday, yet we fill your cities,
islands, forts, towns, councils, even
camps, tribes, decuries, the palace, the senate, the forum; we have left you
the temples
alone". We might migrate, and leave
you in shame and in desolation. We ought at least to be tolerated;
for what are we? — a body compacted by community of religion,
of discipline, and of hope.
We meet together to pray, even
for the emperors and authorities, to hear
readings from the holy books and
exhortations. We judge and separate those
who fall into crime. We have elders of proved virtue
to preside. Our common fund is replenished by voluntary donations
each month, and is expended not on gluttony but on the poor
and suffering. This charity is quoted
against us as a disgrace; see, it is said, how they love one another. We call ourselves
brethren; you also are our brethren by nature,
but bad brethren. We are accused of every calamity. Yet we live with you; we
avoid no profession, but those of assassins, sorcerers,
and such like. You spare the philosophers, though their conduct is less
admirable than ours. They confess that our
teaching is older than theirs, for nothing is older than truth. The resurrection at which you jeer has many
parallels in nature. You think us fools;
and we rejoice to suffer for this. We conquer by our death. Inquire into the cause
of our constancy. We believe this martyrdom to be the remission of all offences,
and that he who is condemned before your tribunal is absolved
before God.
These points are all urged
with infinite wit
and pungency. The faults are obvious. The effect on the pagans may have been rather to irritate
than to convince. The very brevity results in obscurity. But every lover of
eloquence, and there were many in those days, will have relished with the
pleasure of an epicure the feast of
ingenious pleading and recondite learning. The rapier
thrusts are so swift, we can hardly realize their deadliness before they are
renewed in showers, with sometimes a blow as of a bludgeon to vary the effect.
The style is compressed like that of Tacitus, but the metrical closes are
observed with care, against the rule of Tacitus; and that wonderful maker of
phrases is outdone by his Christian successor
in gemlike sentences
which will be quoted while the world lasts. Who does not know the anima naturaliter Christiana (soul by nature
Christian); the Vide, inquiunt, ut invicem se diligant (see they exclaim, how they love one another), and the Semen est sanguis Christianorum (The blood of Christians is seed)? It was probably about the
same time that Tertullian developed his thesis of the "Testimony of the Soul"
to the existence of one God, in his little book with this title. With his usual eloquence he
enlarges on the idea that
common speech bids us use expressions such as "God
grant", or "If God will",
"God bless",
"God sees",
"May God
repay". The soul
testifies also to devils, to just
vengeance, and to its own immortality.
Two or three years later
(about 200) Tertullian assaulted heresy in a treatise even more brilliant, which,
unlike the "Apologeticus", is not for his own day only but for all time.
It is called "Liber de praescriptione haereticorum". Prescription
now means the right obtained to something
by long usage. In Roman law
the signification was wider; it meant the
cutting short of a question by the refusal to hear the adversary's arguments,
on the ground of an anterior point which must cut away the ground under his
feet. So Tertullian deals with heresies: it is of no use to listen to their
arguments or refute them, for we have a number of antecedent proofs that they cannot deserve a hearing.
Heresies, he begins, must not astonish us,
for they were prophesied. Heretics
urge the text, "Seek and ye shall find", but this was not said to Christians; we have a rule of faith to be accepted without question.
"Let curiosity give place to faith and
vain glory make way for salvation", so
Tertullian parodies a line of Cicero's. The heretics argue out of Scripture;
but, first, we are forbidden to consort with a heretic after one rebuke has been
delivered, and secondly, disputation results only in blasphemy on the one side and indignation on
the other, while the listener goes away more puzzled than he came. The real
question is, "To whom does the Faith
belong? Whose are the Scriptures? By whom,
through whom, when and to whom has been handed down the discipline
by which we are Christians?
The answer is plain: Christ sent His apostles,
who founded churches in each city, from
which the others have borrowed the tradition
of the Faith and the seed of doctrine and daily borrow in order to become
churches; so that they also are Apostolic
in that they are the offspring of the Apostolic
churches. All are that one Church
which the Apostles founded, so long as
peace and intercommunion are observed [dum est illis communicatio pacis et appellatio
fraternitatis et contesseratio hospitalitatis]. Therefore the testimony to the truth is this: We communicate with the apostolic
Churches". The heretics will
reply that the Apostles did not know all the truth. Could anything be unknown to Peter,
who was called the rock on which the Church was to be built? or to John,
who lay on the Lord's breast? But they will
say, the churches have erred. Some indeed went wrong, and were
corrected by the Apostle;
though for others he had nothing but praise. "But let us admit that all
have erred:— is
it credible that all these great churches
should have strayed into the same faith"? Admitting this absurdity,
then all the baptisms, spiritual
gifts, miracles, martyrdoms, were in vain until Marcion and Valentinus
appeared at last! Truth will be younger
than error; for
both these heresiarchs are of yesterday, and were still Catholics at Rome in the episcopate
of Eleutherius (this name is a slip or a false reading). Anyhow
the heresies are
at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ.
Perhaps some heretics may
claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let
them publish the origins of their churches
and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles
or from some bishop
appointed by the Apostles, as
the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John,
and the Romans from Clement
and Peter; let heretics invent something to match this.
Why, their errors were denounced
by the Apostles
long ago. Finally (36), he names some Apostolic
churches, pointing above all to Rome, whose witness
is nearest at hand, — happy Church,
in which the Apostles poured out their
whole teaching with their blood, where Peter
suffered a death like his Master's, where Paul
was crowned with
an end like the Baptist's, where John
was plunged into fiery oil without hurt! The Roman
Rule of Faith is summarized, no doubt from the old Roman
Creed, the same as our present Apostles' Creed but for a few small additions in
the latter; much the same summary was given in chapter
xiii, and is found also in "De virginibus velandis" (chapter I).
Tertullian evidently avoids giving the exact words, which would be taught only
to catechumens
shortly before baptism. The
whole luminous argument is founded on the first chapters
of St. Irenæus's third book, but its
forceful exposition is not more Tertullian's own than its exhaustive and
compelling logic. Never
did he show himself less violent and less
obscure. The appeal to the Apostolic
churches was unanswerable in his day; the rest of his argument is
still valid.
A series of short works
addressed to catechumens
belong also to Tertullian's Catholic days, and fall between 200 and 206.
"De spectaculis" explains and probably exaggerates the impossibility
for a Christian to
attend any heathen
shows, even races or theatrical
performances, without either wounding his faith by participation in idolatry or arousing his passions.
"De idololatria" is by some placed at a later date, but it is anyhow
closely connected with the former work. It explains that the making of idols
is forbidden, and similarly astrology, selling of incense, etc. A schoolmaster cannot elude
contamination. A Christian
cannot be a soldier. To the question, "How am I then to live?",
Tertullian replies that faith fears
not famine; for the Faith we must give up
our life, how much more our living? "De
baptismo" is
an instruction on the necessity of baptism and on its effects; it is directed
against a female
teacher of error
belonging to the sect of Gaius
(perhaps the Anti-Montanist). We learn that baptism was conferred regularly by the bishop, but with his consent
could be administered by priests, deacons, or even laymen. The proper times were Easter and Pentecost.
Preparation was made by fasting, vigils,
and prayers. Confirmation
was conferred immediately after by unction and laying on of
hands. "De
paenitentia" will be mentioned later. "De oratione" contains aan
exposition of the Lord's Prayer,
totius evangelii
breviarium.
"De cultu feminarum" is an instruction on modesty and plainness in
dress; Tertullian enjoys detailing the extravagances of female toilet and ridiculing them. Besides
these didactic works to catechumens, Tertullian wrote at the same
period two books, "Ad uxorem", in the former of which he begs his
wife not to marry again after his death, as
it is not proper for a Christian, while in the second book he
enjoins upon her at least to marry a Christian if she does marry,
for pagans must
not be consorted with. A little book on patience is touching, for the writer
admits that it is an impudence in him to discourse on a virtue
in which he is so conspicuously lacking. A book against the Jews contains some curious chronology, used to prove
the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy
of the seventy weeks. The latter half of the book is nearly identical with part
of the third book against Marcion. It would seem that Tertullian used
over again what he had written in the earliest form of that work, which dates
from this time. "Adversus
Hermogenem" is against a certain
Hermogenes, a painter (of idols?)
who taught that God created
the world out of pre-existing matter.
Tertullian reduces his view ad absurdum, and establishes the creation
out of nothing both from Scripture and reason.
The next period of
Tertullian's literary activity shows
distinct evidence of Montanist
opinions, but he has not yet openly broken with the Church, which had not as yet condemned the
new prophecy. Montanus
and the prophetesses Priscilla
and Maximilla had been long dead when Tertullian was converted
to belief in
their inspiration. He held the words of Montanus
to be really those of the Paraclete, and he characteristically
exaggerated their import. We find him henceforth lapsing into rigorism, and
condemning absolutely second marriage and
forgiveness of certain sins, and insisting on new fasts. His teaching had always been
excessive in its severity; now he positively revels in harshness. Harnack and d'Alès
look upon "De Virginibus velandis" as the first work of this time,
though it has been placed later by Monceaux and others on account of its
irritated tone. We learn that Carthage was
divided by a dispute whether virgins should
be veiled; Tertullian and the pro-Montanist party stood for the affirmative.
The book had been preceded by a Greek
writing on the same subject. Tertullian declares that the Rule
of Faith is unchangeable, but discipline
is progressive. He quotes a dream in favour
of the veil. The date may be about 206.
Shortly afterwards Tertullian published his largest extant work, five books
against Marcion. A
first draft had been written much earlier; a second recension had been
published, when yet unfinished, without the writer's consent;
the first book of the final edition was finished in the fifteenth year of Severus,
207. The last book may be a few years later. This controversy is most important
for our knowledge of
Marcion's doctrine. The refutation of it out of his
own New Testament,
which consisted of St. Luke's Gospel and St. Paul's Epistles, enables us to reconstitute
much of the heretic's Scripture text. The result may
be seen in Zahn's, "Geschichte des N.
T. Kanons", II, 455-524. A work against the Valentinians
followed. It is mainly based on the first book of St.
Irenæus.
In 209 the little book
"De pallio" appeared. Tertullian had excited remark by adopting
the Greek pallium,
the recognized dress of philosophers, and he defends his conduct in a
witty pamphlet. A long book, "De anima", gives Tertullian's psychology. He well describes the unity
of the soul; he
teaches that it is spiritual, but
immateriality in the fullest sense he admits for nothing that exists, — even God is corpus. Two works are against the Docetism of the Gnostics, "De carne Christi" and "De
resurrectione carnis". Here he emphasizes the reality of Christ's Body and His virgin-birth, and teaches a corporal
resurrection. But
he seems to deny the virginity of Mary,
the Mother of Christ, in partu, though he affirms it ante partum. He addressed to a convert
who was a widower an exhortation to avoid second marriage,
which is equivalent to fornication. This work, "De exhortatione
castitatis", implies that the writer is not yet separated from the Church. The same excessive rigour appears
in the "De corona", in which Tertullian defends a soldier who had
refused to wear a chaplet on his head when
he received the donative granted to the army on the accession
of Caracalla
and Geta in 211. The man had been degraded
and imprisoned.
Many Christians
thought his action extravagant, and refused
to regard him as a martyr.
Tertullian not only declares that to wear the crown would have been idolatry, but argues that no Christian can be a soldier without
compromising his faith. Next
in order is the "Scorpiace", or antidote to the bite of the Scorpion, directed against the teaching
of the Valentinians that God cannot approve of martyrdom, since He does not want man's
death; they even permitted the external act
of idolatry.
Tertullian shows that God desires the courage of the martyrs and their victory over temptation;
he proves from Scripture
the duty of
suffering death for the Faith and the great
promises attached to this heroism. To the year 212 belongs the open letter
"Ad scapulam", addressed to the proconsul of Africa who was renewing the persecution, which had ceased since 203. He is solemnly
warned of the retribution which overtakes persecutors.
The formal secession of
Tertullian from the Church of Carthage
seems to have taken place either in 211 or at the end of 212 at latest. The
earlier date is fixed by Harnack on account of the close connection between the
"De corona" of 211 with the "De fuga", which must, he
thinks, have immediately followed the "De corona". It is certain that "De fuga in
persecutione" was written after the secession. It condemns flight in time
of persecution,
for God's providence has intended the suffering. This intolerable doctrine had not been held by Tertullian in
his Catholic
days. He now terms the Catholics "Psychici", as opposed to
the "spiritual" Montanists. The cause
of his schism is
not mentioned. It is unlikely that he left the Church by his own act.
Rather it would seem that when the Montanist prophecies
were finally disapproved at Rome, the Church of Carthage
excommunicated at least the more violent
among their adherents. After "De fuga" come "De monogamia"
(in which the wickedness of second marriage
is yet more severely censured) and "De
jejunio", a
defence of the Montanist fasts. A dogmatic
work, "Adversus Prazean", is of great importance. Praxeas had prevented, according to
Tertullian, the recognition of the Montanist prophecy
by the pope;
Tertullian attacks him as a Monarchian, and develops his own doctrine of the Holy Trinity (see MONARCHIANS and PRAXEAS). The last remaining work of the
passionate schismatic
is apparently "De pudicitia", if it is a protest, as is generally held, against a Decree of Pope
Callistus, in which the pardon of adulterers
and fornicators, after due penance done,
was published at the intercession of the martyrs. Monceaux, however, still supports
the view which was once commoner than it now is, that the Decree in question was issued by a bishop of Carthage.
In any case Tertullian's attribution of it to a would-be episcopus episcoporum and pontifex maximus merely attests its peremptory character.
The identification of this Decree with the far wider relaxation of discipline
with which Hippolytus
reproaches Callistus is uncertain.
The argument of Tertullian
must be considered in some detail, since his witness
to the ancient system of penance is of
first-rate importance. As a Catholic, he addressed "De
paenitentia" to catechumens
as an exhortation to repentance previous to
baptism. Besides that sacrament
he mentions, with an expression of unwillingness, a "last hope",
a second plank of salvation,
after which there is no other. This is the severe remedy of exomologesis, confession,
involving a long penance in sackcloth
and ashes for the remission of
post-baptismal sin. In the "De pudicitia" the Montanist now declared that there is no
forgiveness for the gravest sins, precisely those for which
exomologesis is necessary.
It is said by some modern critics, such as Funk
and Turmel among Catholics,
that Tertullian did not really change his view on this point the writing of the
two treatises. It is pointed out that in "De paenitentia" there is no
mention of the restoration of the penitent to communion;
he is to do penance, but with no hope
of pardon in this life; no sacrament is
administered, and the satisfaction is lifelong. This view is impossible.
Tertullian declares in "De
pudicitia".
That he has changed his mind and expects to
be taunted for his inconsistency. He implies that he used to hold such a relaxation,
as the one he is attacking, to be lawful.
At any rate in the "De paen." he parallels baptism with exomologesis, and supposes
that the latter has the same effect as the former, obviously the forgiveness of
sin in this life. Communion
is never mentioned, since catechumens are addressed; but if exomologesis
did not eventually restore all Christian privileges,
there could be no reason for fearing that
the mention of it should act as an
encouragement to sin, for a lifelong penance
would hardly be a reassuring prospect. No length is mentioned, evidently
because the duration depended on the nature
of the sin and the judgment
of the bishop; had
death been the term, this would have been emphatically expressed. Finally. And
this is conclusive, it could not be insisted on that no second penance
was ever allowed, if all penance was
lifelong.
For the full understanding
of Tertullian's doctrine we
must know his
division of sin into
three classes. There are first the terrible crimes of idolatry, blasphemy, homicide, adultery, fornication, false witness, fraud (Adv. Marc.,
IV, ix; in "De Pud." he substitutes apostasy for false witness and adds unnatural vice).
As a Montanist he
calls these irremissible. Between these and mere venial sins there are modica
or media (De Pud.., I), less grave but yet
serious sins, which
he enumerates in "De Pud.", xix: "Sins of daily committal, to
which we are all subject; to whom indeed does it not occur to be angry
without cause and after the sun has set, or
to give a blow, or easily to curse, or to
swear rashly, or break a contract, or lie
through shame or necessity? How much we are
tempted in business, in duties, in trade, in food, in sight, in
hearing! So that, if there were no forgiveness for such things, none could be saved.
Therefore there will be forgiveness for these sins by the prayer of Christ
to the Father" (De Pud., xix).
Another list (On Pudicity 7)
represents the sins which
may constitute a lost sheep, as distinguished from one that is dead: "The faithful
is lost if he attend the chariot races, or
gladiatorial combats, or the unclean theatre,
or athletic shows, or playing, or feasts on
some secular solemnity,
or if he has exercised an art which in any way serves idolatry, or has lapsed without
consideration into some denial or blasphemy". For these sins there is forgiveness, though the
sinner has strayed from the flock. How is forgiveness obtained? We learn this
only incidentally from the words: "That kind of penitence
which is subsequent to faith, which can either obtain
forgiveness from the bishop for
lesser sins, or
from God only for
those which are irremissible" (On Pudicity 18). Thus
Tertullian admits the power of the bishop for all but
"irremissible" sins. The absolution which he still acknowledges for
frequent sins was
obviously not limited to a single occasion, but must have been frequently
repeated. It is not even referred to in "De paen", which deals only
with baptism and
public penance for the gravest sins. Again, in "De
pudicitia",
Tertullian repudiates his own earlier teaching that the keys
were left by Christ through Peter
to His Church (Scorpiace 10); he now declares (On Pudicity 21) that
the gift was to Peter
personally, and cannot be claimed by the Church of the Psychici.
The spiritual have the right to forgive, but the Paraclete said: "The Church
has the power to forgive sins but I will not do so, lest they sin afresh."
The system of the Church of Carthage
in Tertullian's time was therefore
manifestly this: Those who committed grievous sins confessed
them to the bishop, and
he absolved them after due penance
enjoined and performed, unless the case was in his judgment
so grave that public penance was obligatory. This public penance
was only allowed once; it was for protracted periods, even sometimes until the
hour of death, but at the end of it forgiveness and restoration were promised.
The term was frequently shortened at the prayer of martyrs.
Of the lost works of
Tertullian the most important was the defence of the Montanist manner of prophesying, "De ecstasi", in six
books, with a seventh book against Apollonius.
To the peculiarities of Tertullian's views which have already been explained
must be added some further remarks. He did not care for philosophy:
the philosophers
are the "patriarchs of the heretics". His notion that all things,
pure spirits and even God, must be bodies, is accounted for
by his ignorance of
philosophical terminology. Yet of the human
soul he actually says that it was seen
in a vision as tender, light, and of the
colour of air! All our souls were contained in Adam,
and are transmitted to us with the taint of original sin upon them, — an ingenious if gross form
of Traducianism.
His Trinitarian teaching is inconsistent,
being an amalgamation of the Roman doctrine with that of St. Justin
Martyr. Tertullian
has the true formula
for the Holy Trinity,
tres Personae,
una Substantia.
The Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost are numerically distinct, and each is God; they are of one substance,
one state, and one power. So far the doctrine is accurately Nicene.
But by the side of this appears the Greek
view which was one day to develop into Arianism: that the unity
is to be sought not in the Essence but in
the origin of the Persons. He says that
from all eternity
there was reason (ratio) in God, and in reason
the Word (Sermo), not distinct from God, but in vulva cordis. For the purpose of creation
the Word received a perfect
birth as Son. There was a time
when there was no Son and no sin, when God was neither Father nor Judge. In
his Christology
Tertullian has had no Greek influence, and
is purely Roman. Like most Latin Fathers he speaks not of two Natures
but of two Substances
in one Person, united without confusion,
and distinct in their operations. Thus he condemns by anticipation the Nestorian, Monophysite, and Monothelite heresies. But he seems to teach that Mary,
the Mother of Christ, had other children. Yet he makes
her the second Eve, who by her obedience
effaced the disobedience of the first Eve.
Tertullian's doctrine of the Holy Eucharist has been much discussed, especially
the words: "Acceptum panem et distributum discipulis corpus suum illum
fecit, hoc est corpus meum dicendo, id est,
figura corporis mei". A consideration of the context shows only one
interpretation to be possible. Tertullian is proving
that Our Lord
Himself explained bread in Jeremiah 11:19 (mittamus lignum in panem ejus) to refer to His Body, when He
said, "This is My Body", that is, that bread was the symbol
of His Body. Nothing can be elicited either for or against the Real Presence; for Tertullian does not explain
whether the bread is the symbol of the Body
present or absent. The context suggests the former meaning. Another passage is:
Panem, quo ipsum
corpus suum repraesentat. This might mean "Bread which stands for His Body", or
"Presents, makes present". D'Ales has calculated that the sense of
presentation to the imagination
occurs seven times in Tertullian, and the similar moral
sense (presentation by picture, etc.) occurs twelve times, whereas the sense of
physical presentation occurs thirty-three times. In the treatise in question
against Marcion the
physical sense alone is found, and fourteen times. A more direct assertion of
the Real Presence
is Corpus ejus in
pane censetur (On Prayer 6). As to the grace
given, he has some beautiful expressions, such as: "Itaque petendo panem quotidianum,
perpetuitatem postulamus in Christo et individuitatem a corpore ejus" (In petitioning
for daily bread, we ask for perpetuity in Christ,
and indivisibility from His body. — Ibid.).
A famous passage on the Sacraments of Baptism,
Unction, Confirmation,
Orders and Eucharist
runs: "Caro abluitur ut anima maculetur; caro ungitur ut anima consecretur;
caro signatur ut et anima muniatur; caro manus impositione adumbratur ut et
anima spiritu illuminetur; caro corpore et sanguine Christi
vescitur ut et anima de Deo saginetur" (The flesh is washed, in order that
the soul may be
cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed [with the cross],
that the soul, too,
may be fortified; the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of
hands, that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit;
the flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may have its fill of God — "Deres. Carnis.",
viii). He testifies to the practice of daily communion,
and the preserving of the Holy Eucharist by private persons for this purpose. What will
a heathen husband think of that which is
taken by his Christian
wife before all other food? "If he knows
that it is Bread, will
he not believe that it is simply what it is
called?" This implies not merely the Real Presence, but transubstantiation. The station days were Wednesday and Friday; on what
other days besides Holy Mass was offered
we do not know. Some
thought that Holy Communion
would break their fast on station days; Tertullian explains: "When
you have received and reserved the Body of the Lord,
you will have assisted at the Sacrifice and
have accomplished the duty of fasting as well" (De oratione, xix).
Tertullian's list of customs observed by Apostolic
tradition though
not in Scripture (De cor., iii) is famous:
the baptismal
renunciations and feeding with milk and honey, fasting Communion,
offerings for the dead (Masses) on their
anniversaries, no fasting or kneeling
on the Lord's Day
and between Easter and Pentecost,
anxiety as to the falling to the ground of any crumb or drop of the Holy Eucharist, the Sign of the
Cross made
continually during the day.
Tertullian's canon
of the Old Testament
included the deuterocanonical books, since
he quotes most of them. He also cites the Book
of Enoch as inspired,
and thinks those who rejected it were wrong. He seems also to recognize IV Esdras,
and the Sibyl, though he admits that there
are many Sibylline forgeries. In the New Testament he knows
the Four Gospels,
Acts, Epistles of St. Paul, I Peter
(Ad Ponticos), I John, Jude,
Apocalypse. He does not know James
and II Peter, but we cannot tell that he
did not know II, III
John. He attributes
Hebrews to St.
Barnabas. He rejects the "Pastor" of Hermas
and says that many councils of the Psychici
had also rejected it. Tertullian was learned, but careless in his historical
statements. He quotes Varro and a medical
writer, Soranus of Ephesus,
and was evidently well read in pagan literature.
He cites Irenaeus, Justin, Miltiades,
and Proclus. He probably knew parts of Clement of
Alexandria's
writings. He is the first of Latin theological writers. To some extent, how great
we cannot tell, he must have invented a theological idiom
and have coined new expressions. He is the
first witness to the existence
of a Latin Bible,
though he seems frequently to have translated from the Greek
Bible as he wrote. Zahn has denied that he
possessed any Latin translation, but this
opinion is commonly rejected, and St. Perpetua
certainly had one at Carthage
in 203.
Œuvres De Tertullien, Traduites en Français, Eugène-Antoine DE GENOUDE. Seconde Edition, 1852. Publication, Paris, Louis Vivès, 1852
Voir aussi : http://jesusmarie.free.fr/tertullien.html
